ANY1 PLS GIVE ME ONE GOLD PLEASE!!!

The other day, someone in World of Warcraft was standing outside the bank in Darnassus spamming the general chat with this request. Predictably, he was met with derision. "Go farm it," and "Welcome to my ignore list" were popular, and natural, responses. When you're a newb, one gold seems like a lot, it's true; but as opposed to real life, it's much easier, and more predictably accomplished, to make money in the game. Simply find mobs, kill, loot, repeat.

Most people ignore spare changers in the game; but I can imagine someone flipping this guy a gold piece to shut him up. The logic behind spam is that it's so easy to do, even a .1% return rate is worth it. Is that worth all the other players who bumped your avatar to the ignore list, though?

I don't know if it's the brashness of youth or that there is a cultural shift, but I'm noticing behavior like this much more frequently, and not just in games. Someone emailed me recently with a "To Whom it May Concern" address, asking for sponsorship money in a gaming competition. I thought to myself, come on; in the real world, when you ask for sponsorship, you don't send blind emails - that's what Nigerian spammers do, and at least they do it poetically ("Dear beloved of God, I have heard of your worth..."). No, you do a little research. You find out the name of the person you're asking money of, at least. My name is all over this website - its not like I post here anonymously.

Well, at least the person asking me for money identified herself, and gave me some idea of what she was all about; because sometimes even that courtesy is not extended. On a mailing list I'm on, someone recently posted anonymously asking vaguely about being able to interview some members about their jobs in the game industry. No name, no self-intro, nothing. Just, "I'm coming into your community and asking you for things without giving anything in return because someone told me you were a great resource." And my paraphrasing is actually more elegant than the way the original writer phrased the request.

Predictably, there was no response for a while, and then someone teasingly pointed out that other members on the list may have been put off by the fact that the anonymous poster went by "Bugger" in the email address. The original poster then turned huffy and defensive, blaming the mailing list members for being judgemental.

There's another group I belong to, which is mainly made up of friends who are all generally polite to each other. However, once in a while a new person pops up and, apologizing for not providing a self-introduction, proceeds to ask for advice, help, contributions.

I can't stand this sort of behavior. It's rude. It's presumptuous. It says to the people who have spent time on the list, or in the group, I don't care enough about you to spend the time getting to know you or to let you get to know me; I need something from you, and I'll just ask for it. I don't respect the group that you have let me become a part of.

Okay, maybe I'm just cranky today. Things have been really busy around here and lots of people are asking me for lots of favors, and that is probably contributing to the tone of my post. But come on. Don't let your first post in the group simply be a request. Don't ask for help without first offering yours. And don't ask for a piece of gold unless you are a rogue that can open a Thorium lockbox. If you are, pst me! I've got some work for you.